(Spiritual leader of Vilna, 1863-1940). Autograph Letter Signed, written in Hebrew on letterhead, to Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.

The first part of this letter expresses concern for Rabbi Kook’s health, and a request to assist one Ben-Zion Greenfus of Frankfurt move to Eretz Israel as his life in Germany is greatly threatened. The main portion of the letter pertains to the proposal by Rabbi Dr. Meir Hildesheimer to relocate the Hildesheimer Seminary of Berlin to Tel Aviv. R. Chaim Ozer emphatically states that this is a profoundly perverted idea “that would cause irreparable damage.” R. Chaim Ozer continues here at length: “Rabbi Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer originally founded the Seminary in competition with the Reform movement. For it was necessary at that time that the Orthodox community produce rabbis with an advanced academic education. But that was only for that place (Germany) and for that time. We cannot establish such an institution, a “factory,” for rabbis in the Holy Land, where there exist great yeshivoth and great rabbinic leaders. We cannot select rabbis for whom “Derech Eretz” is primary and Torah learning is of secondary importance. It would be an alien growth in the vineyard of the nation of Israel in the Holy Land, establishing there a German culture that has caused many spiritual deaths… I beseech you to influence them not to proceed with such a dangerous step. I am sure they will listen to you.” Indeed R. Chaim Ozer’s opinion prevailed and despite the obvious necessity to escape from the increasingly oppressive Nazi rule, the Seminary remained in Germany and did not relocate at a time when Nazi Germany would have been glad to assist. (It was only well after Kristallnacht that Nazi policy changed and only then did they prevent German Jews from emigrating). Unlike many other European yeshivoth that were devasted by the Holocaust, the Hildesheimer Seminary never reestablished itself.